There are a lot of reasons I'm glad I waited until now to have children. One of the best is all the products that are available to ease parents' burdens.

Last week, when the Caterpillar refused to sleep unless someone was holding her and pacing a rut in the living room carpet from 2:00 to 6:00 am, I consulted my parenting expert, Dr. Google (PhD), and he recommended this. Which I immediately went out and bought. (Hey! $29.99 is worth it for even a couple extra hours sleep.) It's not a miracle cure or anything, but I can put The Caterpillar down, turn on the vibration and it's just enough white noise or sensation or I-don't-care-what-as-long-as-it-works to get her to stay down and drift off to sleep if she was so inclined to begin with. It keeps her from waking herself up in three seconds flat after I lay her down.

My new favorite product is this.

I did not even hear about these when The Dormouse was born. I bought one at Monica's garage sale a couple of months ago. But I would never have guessed that a seven week old would sit up in it though. Awesome:


Of course it's not all fun and games... some people aren't so thrilled with the Bumbo:


Oh wait... maybe we like it after all:


Just don't put it on the counter top. (Duh.)